Benedictus Figulus (born December 29, 1567) of Utenhofen was a German

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

, publisher, and

Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking i ...

. He was an editor of Paracelsian texts and an important representative of

Paracelsianism Paracelsianism (also Paracelsism; German: ') was an early modern medical movement based on the theories and therapies of Paracelsus. It developed in the second half of the 16th century, during the decades following Paracelsus' death in 1541, an ...

in the early 17th century.

Life

At the beginning of the 1610s, he was commissioned by the printer Lazare Zetzner to prepare a second edition of the great alchemical anthology, the Theatrum Chemicum, of which he projected three new volumes under the passably mystical title ''Théâtre d'or tout nouveau et béni, rayonnant des opulentes richesses du présent siècle d'or, rempli des ouvrages jusqu'alors inconnus, des plus excellents philosophes, tant anciens que modernes, traitant de la grande merveille bénie et du miraculeux mystère de la pierre physique et tinctoriale, de sa préparation et de son acquisition.'' (''Theatre of gold all new and blessed, shining from its opulent riches of the present golden century, full of works even unknown, of most excellent philosophers, both ancient and modern, treating the great blessed marvel and the miraculous mystery of the physical stone and tinctorial, of its preparation and its acquisition.'') This was at the time when

Rosicrucianism Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking it ...

was emerging, and Figulus's friend

Adam Haslmayr Adam Haslmayr (31 October 1562 – 16 January 1630) was a German writer, who was the first commentator of the Rosicrucian Manifestos. He called the revelation of Paracelsus the "Theophrastia Sancta". Life Adam Haslmayr was born in Bozen, South Ty ...

, an early proponent of Rosicrucianism, was arrested. Worried, Figulus abandoned his work and fled.

Works

* ''Carmen heroicum, Insignia Megalandri Lutheri complectens'', Stuttgart 1600 * ''Paraphrasis Graeco-Latina Psalmi XXIII Regii propheta Davidis carmine Alcaico expressa: Item Psalmi CIII poetica versio Trilinguis'', 1603 * ''Pandora magnalium naturalium aurea et benedicta de Paracelse'', Lazare Zetzner, Strasbourg 1608 * ''Paradisus aureolus hermeticus: fluens nectare et ambrosia'', Frankfurt, W. Richter, 1608 *'' Rosarium novum olympicum et benedictum, das ist : Ein newer gebenedeyter philosophischer Rosengart'', Basel 1608 * ''Kleine Wundarzney de Paracelse'', Strasbourg 1608 * ''Thesaurinella olympica aurea tripartita'', Frankfurt 1608 In 1893

Arthur Edward Waite Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider–Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider–Waite–Smith o ...

translated ''Pandora magnalium naturalium aurea et benedicta'' into English as ''A Golden Casket of Nature's Marvels''. It contains ''The Book of the Revelation of Hermes interpreted by Theophrastus Paracelsus Concerning the Supreme Secret of the World'', and tracts by Figulus, Alexander von Suchten, Conrad Poyselius, and others.

Sources

Theatrum Paracelsicum
Prefaces and Dedications written by Benedictus Figulus

External links

transcribed by Robert Nelson 1567 births German alchemists Paracelsians Date of death missing 16th-century alchemists {{Germany-chemist-stub